The World and Forever
by Star Fata
Summary: A year after they parted, Sho and Arrietty each take a moment to consider their lives.
1. Sho

**AN- My friends and I have been on a bit of a movie fest lately. We saw the Vow two days ago, and today we saw The Princess and The Frog, Tangled, and Arrietty (British Studio Canal dub). Inspired, and having been sustained upon home baking and diet coke most of the day, I typed this up. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not only do I not own this movie, I don't own the soundtrack that was playing while I wrote this. Will be sure to change this when I get Itunes working again**.

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><p>The world is a big place, and forever is a very long time.<p>

It's been a year since he and Arrietty said goodbye. A year since his operation. Despite the blatant white scar stretching down the centre of his ribcage, Sho's pretty certain that the first marked him far more deeply.

Reclining in the grass, with familiar furry warmth against his side, it was easy to forget how much time had passed.

However, he knew that there would be no more missing tissues, or sugar cubes found on the floor. Borrowers couldn't be seen by humans, last summer had most definitely taught him that lesson.

Haru had taught him that lesson. Humans were simply too curious. They'd destroy the Borrowers, exactly as he had told Arrietty the first day he'd seen her face to face.

In an odd way, he missed the young Borrower, for all that he'd only really seen her four times- and only known about her for most of their brief acquaintance. She'd been full of life, belying her size with the sheer fire in her soul- the passion resounding in every word she'd spoken, from pleading with him to leave them alone, to furiously biting out that the Borrowers _wouldn't_ simply die out.

Even the compassion she'd shown to him after learning about his heart condition- untempered by the pity he usually saw in the eyes of others- had been furious. He'd taken her words that day to heart- he would fight for the life he had now.

A smile on his face, he glanced down at the notebook he now carried everywhere- the notebook he'd asked Great-Aunt Sadako for the day he'd woken up in the hospital, to the hushed-busy sounds of the post-surgery ward. He'd decided to take a hobby he could manage anywhere- even his sickbed. Sadako had smiled and said it was just as well- they were running out of books.

He'd laughed- regretting it immediately when the motion pulled on still healing skin.

The next time he'd woken up, he'd found four items on his bedside table- a notebook, an artist's sketchpad, a scholars set of pens and pencils, and a book on how to draw.

All of them had come in extremely useful, especially as the surgery hadn't been as successful as hoped- he still had to be extremely careful. So, rather than sit around, killing time until his heart gave out on him, he'd found a passion of his own.

At first, he'd just drawn for practice, for something to do. The notebook had been used to jot down ideas, and lists for later. Back at the house though, in his own room, he'd drawn the house his ancestor's had made for the Borrowers- and he'd suddenly thought about how it would look from the inside looking out, to Arrietty.

It had been the beginning of a brilliant idea- and soon his sketchbook had filled with images of a too big world, of humans with their clothes made of recycled house hold items- a clothes peg to tie back hair, a handkerchief as a cloak, a chopstick as a walking stick- and his notebook began to fill with anecdotes, about what it might be like to live in such a world, where survival depended on what you could take without notice, where a crow thought of you as prey, where your mother could be put in a jar and placed in some big person's larder without so much as a by-your-leave….

When asked, he'd simply say he'd been inspired by the old stories of his great-aunt's home. And Haru's 'episode'. And Great-Aunt Sadako would give him a small, secretive smile, and he'd feel joy bubbling in his stomach that she knew, and would never ever tell.

His thoughts strayed to the necklace he wore- where the Arrietty's hair clip still hung. He'd never tell either- his story, even if he decided to get it published, could easily be written off as a child expanding on his favourite bedtime story- he'd hardly be the first to make a book out of a family fairy-tale.

A mewl caught his attention, and he automatically reached out to soothe Niya. His eyes opened, and landed on where his hand rested on beige fur. A small, wistful smile tugged at his lips. While he'd grown a little taller, and his hair had changed slightly, the passing of time could be most easily be seen on his hands. No longer lily-white, due to more time outside or pristine from inactivity- no matter how he tried, these days it seemed like ink-stains and pencil dust were ingrained into his skin. His left hand had begun to form callouses, from constantly holding a writing utensil. Slight callouses, but still there all the same.

It'd been a whole year since he'd seen Arrietty- a girl he'd barely known, when all was said and done. And yet, he'd loved her- a mix of a child's wonder, a dying boy's hope and a young man's adoration. But forever was a long time, and the world was a big place- even for someone his size. He'd remember Arrietty as long as he lived- and she'd always hold a special place in his heart. But one day, her face wouldn't be the first one to pop into his mind when he thought about beauty, and she would no longer be the only girl he'd loved.

She would always be the _girl_ he'd loved, and never a woman in his mind. A girl of great impact upon his life, but a girl nonetheless. A girl who'd reintroduced the fantastical into his life, when he'd resigned himself to leaving it all behind- to dying before autumn. But she would always be within the past, and reality no longer held a teapot the size of his thumbnail filled with sweet-smelling tea, or a flash or red in the corner of his vision. He couldn't keep holding out hope that such things would become part of his life again- no more than he could close himself off from future possibilities because of a longing for the past.

The world was a big place- odds were that they'd never see each other again, let alone reconnect the way they had. Forever was a long time- too long to wait for a childhood love that could never become anything more.

Picking up Niya, Sho wandered back inside the house that had held generations of both his family and Borrowers, and he didn't look back.


	2. Arrietty

**AN- This chapter took a bit longer, so I hope you like it. Dedicated to the three girls I watched Arrietty with- you know who you are.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All you see here belongs to either Studio Ghibli or Mary Norton. Or whoever currently has the rights. Although, I'm pleased to announce, I now have my favourite songs from the Soundtrack!**

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><p>The World is a big place, and forever is a long time.<p>

Changing from borrowing to foraging wasn't quite as bad as it had first seemed. Sure, it was harder to get everything they needed, and the comfort level wasn't quite the same- but at the same time, they didn't have to plan their lives based upon the fear of discovery. More danger of being killed than there had been at Sho's house, but less of being discovered. A bit of one had been exchanged for a bit of the other.

If not for Spiller, they would have perished the first Winter- or at least gone back to hiding in a house and Borrowing. Arrietty was grateful for him, the wild boy who had taught her how to scavenge, how to keep a shelter- and who she in return had taught about borrowing, slipping into houses nearby and simply taking a few odds and ends- things that wouldn't be missed. Never Sho's house though. It was too far away.

It'd been so long since she'd stood upon the bamboo fence and handed him her hair clip. She missed him, a little. She hadn't really had much time for missing him, between helping her parents make a new home and adapting to the new tasks that needed doing. Still, it was odd. They'd known each other less than a week of their lives…

And he'd been the first person to see her, other than her parents. The first person to call her beautiful. And the first person to try and protect her, never mind that she didn't really need it. The crow, Niya and Haru being major exceptions to the rule of course.

While he may have been the reason they'd had to move, she couldn't really dislike him for it. She'd always remember the way he'd walked out of his window, and the spark of awe in his eyes when she'd climbed the curtain.

And the fact that she wouldn't have gotten her mother back without his help. It was odd, but now even Homily spoke nicely of Sho- although hysterics would be inevitable if she ever saw him again. Pod simply acknowledged that Sho had helped them a great deal, but otherwise didn't want to talk about it. It didn't sit well with him that he could have lost both his wife and daughter while scouting out their new home.

Spiller was interested in hearing about their old home- mostly about the borrowing, but he didn't mind hearing about Sho. He'd even admitted, in his oddly stilted way, that he'd admired the human for earning her friendship.

Spiller was such a good friend, more than she'd ever had before. He was the second boy to call her beautiful, and the second person to see her besides her parents. But he and Sho were as different as day and night otherwise. Sho had been ill, and he'd looked the part- pale from inactivity and thin from the same. It was hard to imagine Spiller even getting ill, he was so lively. And his body was tanned and muscular from a lifetime foraging and hunting for what he needed, from fighting for his livelihood.

Sho had been quiet, well read and clearly book smart- the way he'd spoken that day in the field reminded her eerily of a book her mother had once used to teach her to read. Spiller had barely been taught the basics of speech, but he was equally intelligent- the fact he'd survived on his own for so long was proof enough he was no fool.

It was odd, missing the human boy. Even if the operation had been successful, the world was such a big place, and he lived so far away from his aunt's. Even if his heart had kept beating, there was less than a dandelion's chance in a summer storm that'd she see him again. The world was just too big. And although she'd remember Sho for the rest of her life, he would never again be a part of it. Maybe if she'd stayed in the house, and he'd stayed there too, they could have had a little- until he either married someone his own size or died.

But she couldn't afford to throw her life away on maybes, no matter what she felt for the boy in question- she had Spiller now, and it wasn't fair to him to constantly be drifting off in what-could-have-beens. Especially with a human boy in the starring role of her daydreams.

She could grow to love Spiller- as a provided, as her husband, maybe even as the father of her children- and Sho would always be the boy she'd loved as a young girl going through upheaval in a life where constancy had always been the norm. As a boy who could have been more, if they'd both been the right size.

Besides, there was simply too much to do to keep missing Sho, who may or may not be dead. And either way, as the first friend she'd ever had, she would always remember him fondly. If Spiller agreed… well, Sho was quite a nice name, when all was said and done.


End file.
